In the Media

Kresge Foundation Commits $2.2 Million For Detroit Revitalization, Neighborhoods

March 16, 2016

DETROIT (WWJ) – The Kresge Foundation has approved over $2 million in grants for revitalization efforts throughout Detroit.

Kresge President and CEO Rip Rapson made the announcement Friday, saying 10 grants will fund projects like fighting blight across the city’s neighborhoods.

“Now is the time to advance the recovery of neighborhoods across the city,” Rapson said in a statement. “The revival of neighborhoods is necessarily a basis for revitalization of the city as a whole.”

Grants for planning and development go to four current and potential hubs of activity:

• Eastern Market: In addition to operating support for the Eastern Market Corp., this grant will facilitate the creation of a new community development corporation to spur development in the market district and surrounding neighborhoods. ($550,000, three-year grant)

• The Detroit riverfront: The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy will work with a broad coalition of partners to update plans for the riverfront district from the MacArthur Bridge to the Ambassador Bridge. ($250,000, one-year grant)

• Corktown: The recently formed Corktown Economic Development Corp. will lead planning to establish Michigan Avenue as the main artery of a walkable neighborhood and a regional attraction. Planning will follow the “complete streets” philosophy of safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders regardless of age or ability. ($100,000, two-year grant)

• Southwest Detroit: The Southwest Detroit Business Association will collaborate with the city of Detroit on plans for redevelopment of the Detroit Public Works’ former vehicle maintenance yard at West Vernor and Livernois as a regional economic stimulus. Now blighted and abandoned, the seven-acre site sits near the landing for the new Gordie Howe International Bridge and has been recommended as a potential retail, business incubator and community gathering space. This is also one of four Detroit sites that the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning will exhibit plans for at the 2016 Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy. ($70,000, one-year grant)

Four additional grants fund organizations bringing innovative new tools to tackle the interwoven challenges of blight, abandonment and neighborhood-level revitalization:

• The Trust for Public Land: This national nonprofit that works to protect parks and open space will launch the Detroit Greenfield Competition, the first of its kind anywhere. Working with the city of Detroit, Detroit Future City and University of Detroit Mercy’s Collaborative Design Center, the Trust for Public Lands will identify several areas that range from largely vacant to vacant.

Click here to read the full article in CBS Detroit.
December, 5, 2016, CBS Detroit

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